I honestly couldn’t live somewhere that didn’t have at least a dozen restaurant choices within walking distance. Right now… let’s say in a square mile… I have at least 30 options–not counting chains.
The only thing in walking distance from my house is Mexican grocery stores. They have excellent food but it’s all just take-out. The closest restaurant is a little Mexican place but it’s past the interstate; not a place I’d feel safe walking. In that little section there’s the Guadalupana, Dixie Queen, Krystal, Rally’s, Yum’s Deli, BK, KFC, Subway, Little Caesars, McDonalds, Wendy’s and Back Yard Burger. On down a bit there’s a Popeye’s and a Chinese take-out I forget the name of. I only wish there was a Taco Bell and life would be complete.
Closest thing to me is 4 km away. It’s a non-chain fastfood grill and icecream place that is only open in summer. I’ve run there before, so I’ll count it 
This is me! That would be probably deer, squirrel, or rabbit for me. Coon and possum are too greasy. Blackberries, mulberries and strawberries in season, but everything’s pretty scarce on the ground right now.
Within reasonable walking distance of my house are:
- McDonald’s
- Popeye’s
- Subway
- Taco Bell/Pizza Hut
- Another Subway
- A non-chain pizza place
- Two or three non-chain Chinese places
- Starbucks
- Denny’s
That’s about it. I live near an “auto row” so most of the stuff near me is car dealerships, which take up big chunks of land. The other restaurants are in a strip mall close by and a larger strip mall (anchored by a large supermarket) a bit further away.
Go a bit farther, though (not walking distance for me–I’m not really into long walks) and I can find just about any sort of restaurant I could possibly want.
As this is such a diverse board with members from all over the country I find it is kind of a shame that in America the same food is available all over the country. Just sayin’
Within a 15 minute walk I have
Frozen yogurt and ice cream
Sushi
Pizza
Sports bar
Applebee’s
Boloco
Chipotle
Pizza
Pizza
Burgers (home of the 5 pound challenge burger)
Dunkin Donuts
And possibly another Japanese or Korean place.
The sushi place is good but a little pricey, everything else is sort of meh. But if I extend my walk to 30 minutes, there is a whole neighborhood full of yum. There’s a lot of pricey but truly creative stuff, a Chinese place, a Russian place, and an amazing bakery.
There are way too many for a complete list. I’m counting only places which I have actually walked to or past.
3 McDonalds
Burger King
Wendy’s
Hawaiian BBQ place
High class Italian place
Good Sushi place
Applebee’s
Bagels (they sell sandwiches)
Popeye’s
H. Salt
Hooters (not that I’d ever go.)
3 Mexican places
Rainforest Cafe
Chinese buffet (2 or 3)
At least 4 or 5 Afghan restaurants, since we’re in walking distance of one of the centers of Afghan people in the US.
Thai place
2 or 3 Subways
2 or 3 Starbucks
The 5 or 6 usual suspects in the mall, which I have walked to when I dropped off my car at the Saturn dealer.
At least two other places in our other shopping center - they change so fast I’ve lost track.
Two supermarkets
A donut place
A take and bake pizza place.
And there are definitely more I’ve forgotten. My wife and I have talked of someday starting a project to eat at every place within walking distance - it would take quite a while. However my definition of walking distance is greater than hers.
Walking distance, probably just these:
Applebee’s
KFC
Sonic
Buffalo Wild Wings
Chinese place I can’t remember
Expand it out to “five-minute drive”, and add these:
Little Caesar’s
Papa Murphy’s
Wendy’s
another Sonic
McDonald’s
Burger King
Whataburger
Beef O’Brady’s
Pizza Hut
Dairy Queen
Fazoli’s
Casa Ole
Taco Bell
Taco Cabana
Long John Silver’s
Cujo’s Sports Bar
Daylight Donuts
Domino’s Pizza
Cracker Barrel
Five Guys
Rosa’s Mexican Cantina
Chicken Express
Subway x2
Quizno’s
:shrug: I couldn’t live in such a conjested place. Don’t have neighbors, and don’t want them. And since I like to cook, it’s not a big deal for me.
Not dising your choice at all though. I can understand the appeal.
If this makes you feel any better - I live in an area with a large Latin American (mainly Cuban) population. Within one mile of me I have all the usual suspects (national chain fast food joints, pubs, diners, Indian, Japanese, Thai, Chinese food, pizza places) there are a number of little hole in the wall places that specialize in a particular cuisine - Cuban, Dominican, Ecuadorian, Mexican, etc and so on.
Mmm, ropa vieja…
Within a mile:
Ethiopian
Philippine
Thai
Japanese/Sushi
Indian
Pakistani
Hawaiian
Several good-quality pubs & grills
Italian
Chinese - the real deal, with dim sum and stinky tofu
Fancy pizza
Gyros
Takeout Teriyaki/Bento boxes
McD’s & Arby’s
Mexican - Taco truck and sit-down
Five Guys Burgers
There’s also a mall with fairly decent mall food - Panda Express, Teriyaki, Gyros, 31 Flavors, Thai.
Oddly enough, it’s rare for me to eat out.
I live in a residential area on the Jersey Shore. I live only about a mile from the beach so there are plenty of bars and fast food places nearby.
Off the top of my head:
Seafood restaurants: 6
Fast food/subs: 11
Bar & Grill: 10
Fine dining (more or less): 8
Beach Bars: 5
Diners/Cafes/Breakfast spots: 12
Boardwalk Snack bars: 12 (probably more)
Pizza: 3 (that aren’t already included in the above)
So 67 spots, and I’m sure I’m missing at least a couple of smaller spots. And these are all within about a 3/4 mile radius. If I were to go by the OP’s 2 mile radius and you don’t mind walking across one of the bridges you could just about double this number. Thankfully, other than most of the fast food places, none of these are chains. So no Applebees or Friday’s are in town.
It does. My hometown (Wash DC metro) ethnic restaurants are abundant. Similar to your list.
Nice list, I bet most if not all are very good.
I live just outside of DC.
Within 5-10 minute walking distance are 4 grocery stores, a beer-wine deli, 2 Peruvian charcoal chicken joints, a bakery, 6 sit-down Latin restaurants, 2 chinese carryouts, 2 7-11s, a Dominos, a Pizza Movers, a Taco Bell, and a McDonalds.
Within a 10 minute drive, hundreds.
I just tried GrubHub for the first time, and got 102 places withing a 1 mile radius.
The interesting thing is that only 5 of those places are chains (Numero Uno, Acapulco Restaurant, Pollo Loco, and Quiznos two times).
Arlington? / Baileys Crossroads? / 7-Corners?
Other side of the river: Takoma Park.
We’re in the suburbs, and we walk a lot.
Within a half mile: two pizzerias, two Chinese take-outs, and a chicken take-out.
Within a mile: another pizzeria, a bagel shop, two Italian restaurants, a diner, a bar and grill, a Subway, two Carvels, another hero shop, and a bakery with table service.
Within two miles: a Chipotle, a Mexican restaurant, two more bagel shops, two more pizzerias, another Subway, another chicken take-out, another Chinese take-out, a Chinese buffet, a Friendly’s, and three Dunkin Donuts.
Strangely, there are no McDonald’s, Burger King, or other burger chains within a two mile radius.
Make that 10 minutes and we have:
5 Dunkin Donuts (Rhode Island is on a course to have 1 Dunkin Donuts per capita by 2019)
2 Ice Cream shops (seasonal)
1 lame sandwhich shop
3 half decent pizzerias
2 lame pizzerias
1 excellent Schezuan restaurant
1 economical basic Chinese take out
1 Thai/Vietnamese/Chinese/Japanese restaurant with excellent Sushi
1 Chinese/Japanese restaurant with lame Hibachi grill and sushi
1 mid-scale bar and restaurant
1 slightly higher scale bar and restaurant
1 large American food restaurant
2 sports bar and grills
1 Unos
1 seafood restaurant
2 MacDonalds
1 Burger King
2 small breakfast restaurants
1 diner
1 99 restaurant
1 Friendly’s
1 TGIF
1 Longhorn Steakhouse
1 Panera Bread
1 Portuguese restaurant
1 Guatemalan restaurant
Probably several more. Go out to 15 minutes and it’s 10 times that number. Yet we seem to be out in a semi-rural area with active farms. It’s just not that far to a couple of commercial areas.